Namaste or Whatever
by Combustspontaneously
Summary: Percy is NOT joining yoga. No matter how much Rachel makes fun of him for having no social life. Or friends. ...Okay, so maybe yoga wouldn't be that horrible of an idea - but he refuses to fall for the cute blonde girl Piper keeps shoving at him. Nope, no way, forget it. He is not that big of a cliche. [Mortal AU where Percy moves to Cali, knows no one, and joins a yoga class]
1. I would like to do the yoga please

Percy didn't think there was much out there worse or more humiliating than getting caught holding up a pair of turquoise yoga pants in the women's section by your third grade English teacher, but there he was in actual yoga class and he had already contemplated faking a heart attack just to get out of it seven times in the last five minutes. So yeah, he guessed you could say there was something worse.

It was all Rachel's fault, as everything that went wrong in Percy's life always was, but he was willing to give some of the blame to the pimply Costco employee that pointed him into the wrong section when he asked for yoga pants. Rachel was less willing to take any blame at all, despite his lenience ("you ought've known you were in the women's section anyway, Perce. They do have signs you know" "I have dyslexia, okay, _dyslexia. _Ableist much, _Rach_?_"_ "Whatever. Hey, aren't the yoga pants like right next to the bra display?" "_Dyslexia, _Rachel").

Anyway, Rachel and Grover had both spent the last two weeks leading up to the yoga lesson nagging at him to do _something _that involved him getting out of his new apartment_. _For the first month after he moved to the west coast, they had hardly bothered him about it. There were plenty of excuses lying around – he was still settling in, his job was really busy, etc – but there were only so many times that you could unpack your five plates and three cups. While their accusations of his social inactivity weren't entirely unfound, he hadn't really given their complaints much thought until one particular phone call.

He'd just come back from a run, his shirt still clinging to his skin. Sweat was running in rivulets down his back and the last thing he wanted to do was take a call when all he wanted to do was jump in the shower. Even across the country Rachel somehow managed to have impeccably unimpeccable timing. She called it her sixth sense. Percy called it annoying as fuck. A+

Still, Rachel and Grover really were his best friends and there was little he could do about that. "Hey!" Percy crowed into the phone tucked into the nook between his jaw and shoulder as he rifled through his mostly empty and completely blue fridge. "What's up?"

"Hey, Perce! I'd ask if you were busy, but I think we both know the answer to that, my favorite social recluse," Rachel chirped from the other end. Percy groaned. Not this again.

"Har har, you're hilarious," he snarked back, sick of her teasing. So what if he liked watching _Teen Wolf_ and videos on YouTube better than interacting with actual living, annoying people?

"Oh, you know I'm just messing with you."

Percy sniffed a carton of orange juice he'd gotten when he first moved there and tried not to gag. "I was actually just coming back in from a run. You?"

"I'm on my way to yoga class. Speaking of-"

"_No_."

"You don't even know what I was going to say," she protested, and Percy could hear the grin in her voice.

Percy rolled his eyes and decided in favor of just getting some water from the tap. "I'm not doing yoga, Rachel."

"Well, what else do you have going on in your life?" she cut across Percy before he could get anything out in defense. "Don't bother answering, I already know what you're going to say – work."

Percy bit his lip and sighed. It was, after all, true, and Rachel knew it. After Percy completed his internship in the marine branch of the Wildlife Conservation Society in New York City, he'd been offered a job working at Sea World– no way he was going to turn _that _down (_Sea World!_), even if it meant moving to a part of the country where he knew absolutely no one. He loved his job – Rachel could tease him all she wanted, but sea lions were literally the cutest thing ever – but the move did mean that his social life was essentially reduced to nothing.

"Look, Perce," Rachel continued, "Just give it a chance. It's _California. _There has to be a yoga place less than a block away." She paused before adding, "I just want you to be happy there."

She hung up soon after, once she had reached her yoga studio, but not without making Percy promise to at least Google it first.

Fantastic.

It turned out Rachel was right. There was a yoga studio not two blocks – _streets, they're called streets – _away from his apartment. For a couple of days Percy wasn't quite sure what to do with this information. He went to work as usual and directly back home to fuck around on the internet for a bit before watching some tv. It was half way through the last Game of Thrones episode that he stopped to think. And came to the shitty realization that Rachel was right (dammit. He could nearly see her smug face). He was sitting at home on a Friday night, he had no friends (or a social life that didn't include sea lions or marathoning TV shows) this side of the country, and hell, what did he have to lose?

Without thinking, he had thrown on a light jacket over his worn out v-neck and was out the door before he even realized what he was doing.

He had forgotten that California got much hotter much faster than New York, and by the time he had walked down the length of his street a thin line of sweat began forming at his brow. A passing older lady gave him the eye. Which was creepy. Percy briefly considered turning back around to change, but eh. He regretted it later when he arrived at the McLean yoga and meditation studio, a small, mint green painted little building tucked between a bakery and a law office, sweating profusely and grossly. Man, what he would do for some water. Grumpy from the heat and just glad to be out of it, he flung open the glass door, stumbling into the sweet air-conditioned studio looking worse for wear.

"May we help you?" There were two woman behind the receptionist counter, one sitting on a stool, and the other leaning against the table. They looked to be his age, and confusion was evident. The one who had spoken pushed herself of the counter and took a wary step towards him, her eyes narrowing slightly as she took in the sight of his sweaty, exasperated state. She was crazy beautiful, messy brown hair and glowing tan skin and all.

"Uh…" Percy managed to get out. What exactly was he doing here again? "I would, uh, like to do the…" He waved his hand in the general direction of the McLean Yoga and Meditation sign above the counter. "Yoga."

The woman sitting on the stool barely stifled a giggle. Her golden eyes flashed at him underneath quirked eyebrows.

'_I would like to do the yoga.' Yes. Brilliant. _

On the other, slightly more positive hand, the first woman no longer looked as if she expected Percy to try and rob them, which was nice.

She extended her hand. "Well, you've come to the right place. My name's Piper McLean, and that's Hazel." She nodded her head to the girl with the golden eyes. "We actually don't have any beginner classes until tomorrow -"

"Beginner?" Percy interrupted, imagining a class filled with eight year olds.

The woman – Piper – raised an eyebrow. "Do you _have_ any yoga experience?"

Percy opened his mouth to reply before wisely snapping it shut. Piper smiled. "Thought so. But here, you can go ahead and fill out some forms with Hazel to get all those out of the way now."

Percy bit his lip. What was he doing here anyway? He could hardly believe Rachel had gotten him this far. "You know what? I actually, uh, I should go. This was a mistake -."

Piper smiled warmly. It was beautiful and captivating. "Oh no, not so fast." She leaned forward and put her hands firmly on his shoulders to guide him towards Hazel. Her touch was gentle and urging as she steered him deeper into the building. Which was also creepy, when he thought about it later.

Ten minutes later all the paperwork had been processed and he had paid for the first ten sessions, and quite frankly he honestly didn't know how this happened. He blamed a combined force of Rachel's goading, Piper's smile, and Hazel's bright enthusiasm. _Girls_.

"Bye!" The girls crowed behind him as he numbly stepped back out into the California sun in a daze.

He blinked for a moment before letting out a small chuckle, dipping his head as he headed back down the street.

If all California girls were like this, he'd probably have to start leaving his credit card at home.

_A/N: Yay new story! This was heavily inspired by Ravingrevolution's Salutations or Something, which is an amazing fic. Thanks to my lovely beta, Maddie at bookish-type-7. If you would like to singlehandedly make my day or encourage me to update this quickly then please leave a review! Much love, Anna x._


	2. Greedy Old Lady Claws

"This totally sucks," Percy said. He looked like a puppy someone had left out in the cold, and Rachel couldn't help but roll her eyes at his supposed dramatics.

"You're trying on yoga shorts, not cleaning out the men's bathroom at McDonald's, Perce."

He made a face at his computer screen. Rachel had insisted on helping him get dressed for his first class via Skype, like he was her long distance toddler getting ready for his first day at kindergarten. Grover waved from the background, looking characteristically optimistic about his joining yoga, before returning to his own laptop screen. Grover was still in law school, poor sap, and working on some essay on his focus, environmental law. Between worrying about Percy and worrying about school, Percy often wondered how he even remembered to sleep. Seriously, the guy was even more depressed about Percy's lack of a life than he was.

"They're too tight," he whined. Rachel raised an eyebrow.

"The class is going to see your junk anyway, why not let it be as visible as possible?"

Percy considered a snappy retort before grungingly conceding. "Is this shirt okay, Oh Brilliant One?" he pulled a short-sleeved gray Henley over his head. He made sure to wear California weather appropriate clothes, considering the yesterday's sweaty catastrophe.

She beamed at the title. "It's perfect! Now run along, you don't want to be late for your first real class."

Percy chuckled quietly before disconnecting and closing the lid of his laptop, making sure to wave goodbye to Grover before he left. Grover sent back an absent-minded wave back. Turning to face the front door, he squared his shoulders like a centurion forming a barricade. Because yoga was totally proportionate to a raging squadron of picts.

"Alright." He rubbed his hands together. "Here we go."

Hazel was alone at the front desk today, partially obscured by a gaggle of suburban-mother-looking types. Hesitant to get in the way of _that, _he waited until the last bottle blonde walked out of the room to approach.

"Hey! Percy, right?" Hazel lifted her hand in a cheery wave. "I didn't really think you'd show. Piper will be pleased."

"She will?" His mind flitted to the beautiful girl from the day before.

Hazel snorted. "Yeah, she bet that you would. Which makes me -"

"About twenty bucks poorer." Piper came sweeping out from the hallway, having caught the last tidbit of conversation. "And _you_," her eyes swept over him. She apparently found him satisfactory (although considering he had wandered in sweaty and dazed the day before, there really wasn't much room to do worse), because her lips twitched upwards into an almost smile. "Are about to be late. I love that shirt on you though." So maybe Rachel wasn't _always _wrong.

She beckoned him to follow her into a wide, open room at the end of the hallway. The walls were painted the same mint green from the outside, and the wooden floors were partially covered by two rows of gray mats. There was one mat in front of all the others, which Percy assumed was Piper's. "You can come take a seat in front of me. "

Percy gulped. Okay, so he was either crazy paranoid or super arrogant, but it seriously felt like every suburban mother was staring at his ass. He risked a peek behind him.

Nope, not crazy_ or_ arrogant, apprently.

Oh god, someone just kill him already.

Just when he was seriously considering grabbing his bag and running with whatever dignity he had left, Percy glanced back up at Piper. He was so totally serious about the leaving the credit card at home thing, because as soon as he caught her eye, his entire body relaxed. It was as if she could calm someone down with sheer willpower. Jedi shit or something.

If he got lightsabered to death by old woman stares he was so totally blaming Rachel.

"Alright class, come take your seats."

They all moved to settle around him on the mats, and he heard some less than PG rated comments about him in the process that he really did not feel were necessary.

If he heard one more 40-year-old woman mutter to her friends about how she'd love to bang him like a car door he was going to seriously stab someone with a pen.

Piper moved them through some breathing exercises, and as silly as it felt at first, Percy really felt himself calming down. Tension must've been a foreign concept to these people.

So this was how Rachel managed to keep her cool under all of her deadlines from art galleries. Not that Percy had a particularly tense job, though. He literally got to play with and take care of sea lions all day.

After all of the synchronized breathing, Piper moved them onto some basic poses. He swore he nearly got a catcall during downward dog. Or at least some madly muffled 'unfs'. He had never felt so objectified before.

He _knew _these pants were unnaturally tight. Damn Rachel.

Though, he had to admit, it was nice to be recognized. He didn't know if any of them had ever seen the pants they made the trainers wear at Sea World, but they could've made Kim Kardasian look like she had a flat butt.

Afterwards Piper had them all sit crosslegged and meditate before dismissing them all.

Despite the terribly awkward first class, two days later he showed up again early, this time in slightly looser pants.

"You're back!" Hazel exclaimed.

"Okay, you have serious doubting problems."

She just shrugged and grinned. "You don't really seem the yoga type."

He was still kind of waiting on that verdict, too. "Neither do you, though." Sure, Piper was kind of scary, what with her crazy mind powers and the somehow unquestionable knowledge that she could probably talk him into joining a cult (which he really hoped wasn't what she was already doing), but _she _at least seemed the yoga type. Hazel on the other hand, seemed more the adventurous type.

"Yeah, I tried it but it didn't really work out." She grimaced as if remembering a painful memory. "I really only come by to help Pipes with the paperwork from time to time. I actually work at a stable about an hour from here."

Percy's brow crinkled. "So how did you and Piper even meet?"

"I actually originally grew up in Louisiana. My mother went totally cr-," she stumbled on her words, mouth twisting as if tasting something bitter. "Well, she moved us to Alaska, and when that didn't work out, we just traveled South until I ended up here around my senior year in high school. My mom didn't really work, so I ended up getting a job at the stable, helping out and whatever. Piper came in for lessons a couple months after. It wasn't really her thing, but we kind of ended up friends anyway." She shrugged. "What about you? How did you end up here?"

"My best friend back home essentially called me a loser until I agreed to come." He grimaced as Hazel laughed. "Glad you think the fact that I have no friends is hilarious."

"Ah, well, you're friends with us now, so hey." She pretended to count on her fingers. "I guess that makes… two?"

Percy made a face at her while she subsided into giggles at her own joke.

He was about to make his own retort when the bell tinkled, announcing the arrival of the rest of his class. Blood draining out of his face, he gulped before quickly half-stumbling half-jogging back into the hallway towards the classroom, and out of the reach of their greedy old lady claws.

In class there was more breathing and posing and 'mmmmm'ing and the occasional 'whoopsie daisy!' as the woman behind him 'stumbled' and grabbed onto his ass for 'balance'.

In spite of that, Percy came again the next week, and the week after that, until a month had gone by. There really was no other excuse other than the fact that Hazel and Rachel were right. Aside from work and yoga there really wasn't much going on in his life. Plus, he was really starting to like it.

It didn't hurt that Hazel was there most days when he had lessons. Both of the girls turned out to be pretty cool as he got to know them. They actually were Percy's age - that is to say, 23, and they both were in steady relationships. To his surprise he wasn't actually all that disappointed. As much as he liked the girls, and as much as they were beautiful (seriously, what the hell is in this water and how long until it started working for him), they weren't really his type. So, he was pretty alright being single and loving yoga.

That is, until Piper first mentioned Annabeth.

_A/N: Hey lovlies! Yay, so super speedy updating that you'll hopefully be receiving for all of this installment. I'm kind of proud of myself. Also, thanks again to Maddie at bookish-type-7 for being the best person ever. Hope you're all enjoying your summer and envisioning Percy in yoga pants!_

_Love, Anna x._

_Also if you could leave a review, (even a teensy one!) that would be spectacular and I would love you forever! 3_


	3. Single in a Couple's Class

Now, Percy loved his job – really, truly he did – but if he had to name something he actually didn't like about it, he would most definitely have to say it was the hours. Working at Sea World was kind of a seasonal thing, where he spent the summers and springs doing five shows a day with the sea lions and the winters and falls training and caring for the younger ones and doing work out in the actual ocean, if he was lucky. The fact that it was currently summer meant that he hardly had any time to himself. And by that he meant that he had hardly any time for yoga. The last show finished up at 4:45, which meant that he normally left work at around 5:30. This gave him approximately half an hour to drive back, shower and get dressed, and haul ass to the studio.

He'd pretty much gotten used to the glaring he received when he walked through the door five minutes after class had started.

"Percy…" Piper began warningly, her hands already firmly placed on her hips in preparation for her patronizing punctuality lecture.

"I know, I know," he sighed, hurriedly slipping his bag off of his shoulder and settling down on his mat to begin stretching. "It won't happen again." He tried for a winning smile.

Piper sighed and shook her head, causing one of her braids to fall from her messy bun. "We'll talk afterwards." She paired this with a significant look which altogether gave Percy war flashbacks of twelve years of parent teacher conferences.

"Aye aye, captain." He faked a little salute and went back to his cobra position, pretending Piper's eye roll was one of fondness.

After the yoga class, when he was nice and loose and had totally forgotten about it, Piper made good on her threat.

"Night, Pipes," he said as he passed by the front desk on his way out the front door.

"Uh, I don't think so." She snagged his arm and half dragged him aside as the last of his classmates filed out the door, several of the women throwing back what looked like jealous glances at Piper. Seriously. Some of these women were in their fifties – turn back around, Jesus Christ.

"What's up?" Percy asked, still not quite remembering.

"My patience with your tardiness."

Percy winced. "Oh. Right."

The next few moments were somewhat a blur to Percy, as most lectures often were. He blamed his ADHD for this, and of course, what happened directly after.

"So – do you agree? I think it's getting off rather easily, for the amount of times you've been late. Actually, I think we might actually be doing you a favor – no offense. What do you say?" Piper finished off, looking at him expectantly.

"Er – I'm sorry, what?"

Piper's smile dropped. "You're kidding me. You didn't hear any of that?"

"What? No, no, of course! Of course, I was listening," he trailed off with a nervous laughed that sounded forced even to his ears.

Piper narrowed her eyes. "So you'll do it?"

"Of course!" One of these days Percy would actually accidently sign his soul away.

She beamed. "Excellent! So I'll see you on Thursday!"

"Thursday?"

"Yep. Couples classes are every Thursday and Tuesday, but don't worry, we won't be expecting you to be doing those in addition to your normal classes, and you've been here long enough, so we're just going to move you up. From now on, you can just do the couples class with Annabeth. You'll love her, trust me. We've been trying to get her to do this for ages."

Percy had stopped listening after '_couples classes'._ He was in a state of shock, to say the least.

"Well! That sounds great! I've got, uh, some, uh, laundry on the stove or you know, whatever so I'll just see you later!"

Percy faked an over the top grin before backing out of the lobby and out the door.

_Welp. Good job, Jackson._

_Annabeth… _Percy frowned, running the name across his memory. He thought he remembered Hazel bringing her up from time to time. _Well, I guess I'll just have to see._

Xx

When Thursday rolled around, and it always, inevitably did, no matter how much Percy willed it not to, Percy honestly considered skipping.

It wasn't his normal consideration of skippage, which varied around the 'maybe Piper won't kill me if I don't show up' end of the spectrum, but the sweaty palmed, restless fingered 'you know, at least I'd finally find out if there is a heaven' end.

But in the end, Percy didn't want to risk the Glare of Ultimate Disappointment, of which he heard whispers and rumors aplenty. He shuddered to think of it.

So, Percy changed into his yoga pants and a tighter v-neck, grabbed his bag from its place by the door and headed out. The walk always seemed shorter when he didn't want to go, he seemed to notice.

The lobby was oddly full when he arrived, mainly, of course, of couples. He had to wrestle past a bickering brunette couple on his way in and wobble in between a couple that appeared to be getting a head start on stretches right on the lobby floor before he made it to the front desk, nearly tripping over someone's stray bag in the process.

"Jesus Christ – is this always a problem on Thursdays?" he asked distractedly, not quite noticing that Piper was currently in discussion with someone else. Well, more like quietly arguing.

Piper paused at his interruption and turned towards him. "Percy!" She sounded almost relieved at his appearance.

This was a fact completely missed by Percy, who had just been distracted by a shake of curling blonde hair.

It was the girl Piper had been talking to, and inexplicably, who was frowning at him. She was distinctly not dressed for yoga or any kind of limber movement, in the kind of fitted pantsuit Percy used to see all the time walking in the business district or in the windows of Burberry or something equally pretentious and ridiculously expensive.

And wow, did it look great on her.

"Er, Percy?"

He blinked, realizing that he'd been staring. _Whoops. _"Uh, yeah?"

"This is Annabeth, your new… partner."

Percy glanced over her shoulder at the girl in disbelief. _This w_as the girl he was being set up with? _This _was his punishment?

"Um… hey?" He tried at nonchalance, smiling at her.

Annabeth pursed her lips at him. "I should change." She turned on her heel – yes, she was wearing heels in a yoga studio – and disappeared behind a back door.

"Well, she's welcoming." Percy frowned slightly. Did he smell? He didn't _think _he smelled. It wasn't that he was over-the-moon happy that he had yet again been wrangled into yoga, but hey, at least he had said hi.

Piper winced slightly. "She's just like that around people she doesn't know. Don't worry, she'll warm up to you."

_Yeah, right._

Well, Percy sure hoped she would or else the coming weeks would prove to be very, _very _awkward.

_A/N: This update was supposed to come very quickly - whoops. _I left almost immediately after my last update to go to a three week academic camp that lacked in wifi - I know, it was heartbreaking for me too - and came back in the end of July. I am officially back though, so updates will likely go back to normal.

Thanks to my editor, Maddie, again. And please go check out her percabeth stories and such 'cause they're great(:

If you want to go stalk around on my Tumblr, the URL is combustspontaneously(: i will be posting updates on the next chapter's progress and maybe sneak peeks if enough people are interested!

Please leave a review, because it would make me very happy and convince me to write faster.

Much love, Anna(:


	4. Ice Queen

Once the clock struck seven, Piper clapped her hands just once and a respectful hush washed over even the farthest couples. She grinned. "Hello, everyone. My name is Piper McLean and I'm your instructor. If you would please follow me."

Percy shuffled quietly along with everyone else, glancing around for his partner. If there was anything more awkward than doing a blind date version of couple's yoga, it was doing it alone and abandoned.

As he reached the entrance of the hallway he spotted her walking towards them. Her blonde hair had been neatly tied up into a bun at the nape of her neck, and she'd switched the Burberry and Prada for a t-shirt and too-long yoga pants that probably belonged to Piper. Her grey eyes narrowed at him as she neared.

Percy tried his hand at a nervous smile again. She scowled and pushed past him into the room. Well then.

_What's her problem?_

He mimicked her scowl and followed her in. Percy found himself in the room next to his normal one. It was larger, and instead of in rows, the mats were in pairs, spread evenly throughout the room.

Most of them were already taken. He scanned the room until he found one on the far side of the room, already half-occupied by Blonde Chick.

While most of the other couples had already began stretching or were sitting cross-legged facing each other, Annabeth was awkwardly standing next to her mat, looking at it like she expected it to start talking to her or spit out instructions like it was Aladdin's magic carpet or something. Jesus. She chose this opportune time to glance up and caught him staring. She scowled slightly and turned her gaze back to her mat. Blushing, he picked his way over to her, tossing his bag over to the adjacent wall.

He took a seat on his mat, stretching out quietly. Realizing that Annabeth wasn't taking his lead he glanced up, amused, at the surly blonde.

"You coming?" he patted the mat next to him. He thought about adding in a comment about not biting, but honestly, with the way this session was going, no promises were being made.

She pursed her lips, flushing. "_Hmph._"

She did sit down though, which Percy took as a little victory. There may or may not have been some smirking.

(_Spoiler alert: there was totally smirking_.)

Fortunately, the silence didn't have much time to be awkward, as Piper swept towards the front of the room, a built-blond-beach-rat-looking type at her heels. "Now that we're all settled," Percy glanced over at the rest of his peers. There were about six other couples, all in varying forms of 'settled', half looking relaxed and somber, and the other half looking rather awkward and tense.

One could guess which one he and Annabeth were.

He could've sworn Piper glanced sympathetically over at him for a second before continuing. "This is my partner Jason," she said as Jason glanced up from where he was kneeling over his bag and grinned at the class. It was like being bitch slapped by the sun. Or Jesus or something. "We'll begin every day with a question. Please turn and face your partner," There were sounds of shuffling around the room. Percy peeked out of the corner of his eye at Annabeth just in time to catch her doing the same thing. She _hmph-_ed again and reluctantly turned her body to face him, and he mirrored the movement. They both appeared to be doing what they could to avert their eyes anywhere but on each other. "The questions are meant to help you better get to know your partner, to develop a deeper understanding."

Percy wanted a deeper understanding of how he got roped into this.

"The question today may be simple or complex: where do you come from?"

Piper turned her back to the class and took her seat across from Jason. Across the room was a buzz of conversation.

Percy turned back to Annabeth, who appeared to be looking over his shoulder. "So." She snapped her eyes back to his, and for a moment he was taken aback by the intensity of her gaze. "Do you want to start or shall I?"

She shrugged. "I guess I will." She cleared her throat. "I was born in San Francisco. Your turn."

He smiled. "New York City. I moved here two months ago."

Her eyebrows raised, but didn't comment. The pair spent the remaining five minutes in burning silence. Twice Percy contemplated trying to elaborate, but honestly, Annabeth was probably about as eager to hear his life story as she was to clean out the men's toilet in Taco Bell. Which was to say, probably not a lot. At all, really.

Finally Piper turned to address the class again. She did this from the floor, probably seeing no reason to stand when everyone else was in similar positions.

They moved on to some basic stretches from there. Annabeth, despite all of her surly reluctance to couple's yoga, was surprising limber, as if she were a frequent practitioner of the yoga … arts… or whatever.

They began with side-by-side sun salutations, which involved some awkward omg-your-elbow-is-in-my-elbow-space and omg-what-do-i-do-with-my-elbow moments which ended in Percy having to shuffle forward because god forbid the royal highness do the moving.

There was a lot of synchronized breathing and moving that wasn't really synchronized because it seemed like _someone _kept changing her pace on purpose (not that he was pointing fingers or anything), until Piper's voice, which had taken on a melodic tone, instructed them to get into a foreward bend facing each other. Percy slid back onto his mat, stretching his legs in front of him and towards Annabeth. She mirrored the step half a second behind him. Her gaze was watchful, methodical, and analytical as they pressed their feet together. When Percy leaned forward to grab his ankles, Piper chimed in with more instructions, this time to take hold of their partner's hands. Percy hesitated before reaching forward to clasp his hands with Annabeth.

Her grasp was firm, her skin soft but her palm calloused. He glanced up for a moment. Annabeth was resting her head on her arms, soft blond strands curling around her temples. With her eyes closed she looked almost peaceful, and she was, well, beautiful. Percy focused on his breathing.

From there they went to other poses and positions before returning to sun salutations where there was more not-so-synchronized-but-kinda moving and breathing and occasional elbow touching.

As always, at the end of the session, there was a five-minute meditating session where Piper, in her smooth and eerily distant voice, encouraged them as they lay to listen to each others' breathing. So Percy did, bringing his ADHD mind to a halt, and listened to Annabeth's breathing. He timed it with hers, in for one, out for two.

When Piper drew the session to a close and the class murmured "Namaste," in unison, Percy was not quite sure what to do. He rolled up his mat slowly, buying time to figure out what to do. Did he say goodbye? Did he just leave?

"So," he began, glancing up. Annabeth, who had already turned to leave, glanced back, looking equal parts confused and intimidating. Percy's throat chose this moment to get dry. He mentally cursed his spit glands. This was not the time to get all Sahara Desert. Annabeth raised an eyebrow. "Er, nothing?" he finished off lamely.

For a second she just stood there, eyebrows creased. Just when Percy thought she was going to turn around and leave again she opened her mouth. She snapped it back shut, as if thinking better of it. She walked away a couple steps before turning back.

"Your shirt's inside out."

"What-? Oh. Great."

He glanced down. It was indeed. Fan-freaking-tastic.

He sighed before hauling himself up and heading towards the bathroom to change. He stepped out a couple minutes later in jeans and a (right-side-out) t-shirt for a band he stopped listening to in middle school.

"See you, Piper." He called as he headed out, carefully planning out her painful, painful death. Worst. Yoga. Session. Ever.

"Wait – Percy!" Percy did indeed wait, his hand already pressing against the door. He took a step back, turning back to face his (probably ex) friend.

"What's up?"

He glanced over her shoulder. Jason was standing by the desk still. Something about him reminded him of the army guys that would visit his old high school in talks about recruiting. Back straight, feet shoulder width apart, and sinewy arms crossed over his chest.

He shifted slightly, and Percy saw a glimpse of curly blond hair.

"Do you have dinner plans?" Percy glanced down at the clock on the wall. It was around the time that he would crack open a new Campbell's soup can and settle down in front of the TV for some Game of Thrones or something.

Did those count as plans?

He imagined shaking a magic eight ball. _Khaleesi says no, loser._

"Um, no, I guess not. Why?"

"We're about to go out and grab a bite to eat. Since you're kind of new around here I thought I'd show you one of our favorite places. You in?"

Percy hesitated. Game of Thrones and Chicken Noodle Soup for the third time this week, or risk having to spend some more quality time with the blonde ice queen over there?

Well, what was a life without risks?

_A/N: Hey guys! Yay for updating relatively on time! Hope you're all doing fantastically. I've been watching lots of TV, sleeping late, and basically just soaking up the last remains of summer before my sophomore year kicks in. Thanks as always to my beta, Maddie, aka bookish-type-7, for being amazing. She also writes Percabeth and has the cutest superheroes au out right now that she'll definitely update if you guys help me get her review count up to what it deserves! Also, don't forget to check out my tumblr, combustspontaneously, for updates and the whatnot. 33_

_Speaking of reviews... please? :D it would make it very happy if you did._

_Anyway, Love,_

_Anna x._


	5. What Even are Friends

"He said yes!" Piper crowed back to her friends. Jason sent back a blinding smile and a hearty thumbs up. Freaking Captain America, that one.

Annabeth slid her glance from Piper to him. She stared at him for a second. Her lips were parted in what appeared to be a state of confusion, her eyebrows creasing slightly before she shook her head slightly and bent down to reach her bag.

Jason clapped a firm hand on his shoulder before brushing past him and out the door. He followed numbly, Annabeth a couple feet after him. Piper came out last so she could lock up. It was odd seeing the place empty without its cheery lighting.

Jason pulled his truck around front and pulled up in front of the trio. It was an old sky blue truck, faded and dusty in parts, but sturdy looking.

Piper rounded the front to climb into the passenger seat, and it took Percy a beat to realize that he was expected to sit next to Annabeth in the back. _Great._

He climbed in regardless, deciding that it was probably too late to back out. Besides, he had tivo.

"So where are we headed, anyway?" he asked as Jason pulled out of the small parking lot and onto the road.

"It's a small place near by here. I'm a big fan of independent businesses, as you can probably tell." Piper twisted in her seat to look at him. "Their food's killer, and we know the owner. His dad and step-mom did couple's yoga at my studio while they were separated. It apparently worked out because they're back together now." She shrugged.

"Ugh," Annabeth shuddered and rolled her eyes. "Do not talk about that woman." The three of them shuddered and cringed in unison.

"Hera – the stepmom," Piper explained. "Total bitch. She critiqued my technique." Her brow scrunched together. "_My _technique – she had never done yoga before!" Jason cringed, patting her shoulder. She took a deep breath. "Whatever. Let's not think about that witch."

She turned back around and punched the button to turn the radio on. Some indie song came on, and a woman's raspy voice filled the car.

Piper hummed along to the song, reaching over to take Jason's free hand. He smiled as he glanced over at her, running his thumb over her knuckles.

_Couples._

He absentmindedly looked over to where Annabeth was staring out the window. She looked out of it, the dim lighting of the passing street lights and dying daylight softening the intensity of her gaze. Percy sighed. He wasn't sure what he'd done to get on her bad side, but it was up to him to fix it, whatever it was.

The truck pulled into a half empty parking lot, parking near the front. There were teenagers sitting on the hood of a shiny, cherry red bug not too far away, and once Percy opened up his door, the crowing of their laughter exploded into the still air of the truck. It was contagious. Percy remembered late nights with Rachel and Grover on fire escapes, warm under thick comforters they'd dragged outside, throwing bottle caps at the building across the way, laughing when they managed to hit something, and running screeching from the old woman across the hall who they swore hid claws underneath her gnarled woolen gloves.

He grinned at the memories of his friends, feeling warm and comfortable in the balmy warmth of the San Diego sun.

The others seemed to be feeling it too. Piper snuggled underneath Jason's arm, wrapped around her shoulders. Even Annabeth followed with a spring in her step.

The place was indeed small, a little adobe building standing by itself, strung with cheery Christmas lights. A sign proclaimed it to be Apollo's. Mismatched wobbly tables took up the space between the bar and the overstuffed vinyl booths. It was packed, roaring with laughter and conversation. There appeared to be no targeted demographic. Everyone from cooing toddlers to pierced teenagers to the chortling elderly seemed to make an appearance. The diners appeared to all know each other, leaning over tables and booths to get to one another, conversation spilling out of every corner. And they _all _knew Apollo.

He bounced from table to table, swaying his hips from side to side, dancing along to the jukebox. A laugh here, a ruffling of hair there, he bounced his way over to them.

"Piper!" He bounded forward. His grin was even brighter than Jason's. Percy saw spots. "Jason, Annabeth, hey!" He kissed each of them on the cheek, until he reached Percy. Okay, he did not know there would be kissing involved. He _so _did not sign this waiver. "Oh, I don't know this one." Apollo, with his windswept blond hair and his cheeky demeanor reminded him of a cool older brother.

"Percy," he introduced himself, sticking out a hand. Apollo glanced downwards, eyebrows pulling up in amusment, before he dismissed it and pulled him in for a hug instead. Percy let out a squeak of surprise that Annabeth and Piper definitely laughed at, and was let go before he could properly respond.

"Well, Percy, nice to meet you." He grinned again. Percy was going to need to start bring sunglasses. "Welcome to Apollo's big happy family." He swept an arm out to the place and raised his voice. "Hey everyone," the chatter and clattering stopped and Percy could feel nearly everyone's eyes on him. "This is Percy."

"Hey, Percy!" the diners chimed back, laughing. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a booth of girls up against the corner turning to wave. Blushing, he meekly lifted a hand. The two blondes burst into laughter, ducking their heads back into the booth. Across the table, a raven haired girl raised her chin. He had the feeling of being appraised.

God, it was yoga class all over again. At least none of these girls were old enough to be his mother.

Apollo led them to the furthest corner booth. It was larger than the other ones, and could probably fit seven people easily. Piper and Jason slid into one side, leaving the other for Annabeth and him. Again. "He keeps this open just for us," Piper told him. "'Cause we're your favorites, right, 'Pollo?"

"Me? Having favorites? Blasphemous – libel on my character, Piper." He said in mock-offense, widening his eyes innocently before swaggering off to the next booth. Piper just chuckled and shook her head.

"So, er, not to be awkward," Percy began when he realized what seemed off. "but shouldn't we be looking at menus?"

Annabeth surprised him by being the one to reply. Her gaze had been trained on a plain black drawing tablet as soon as they had sat down, and she still didn't look up. "No, that's what makes this place Apollo's. He has this 'gift' where he can supposedly tell what you want more than you do just by looking at you. Like he's a seer, or like, the god of prophecies or something. That's what the freakishly long and touchy hello is for." She glanced up at him. "I advise you just roll with it."

Right. Rolling with it – shouldn't be too hard. It was basically what his life philosophy had been ever since moving to California.

Twenty minutes later, a waitress came sweeping out of the kitchen, carrying a wide black tray stacked high with food. She was a Hispanic woman with curling red hair twisted up off her neck and a big grin with a tiny gap in the front. She hummed along to the music as she served. "Hiya, new guy!" she said, winking. "For you I've got blue crusted pepperoni pizza -," everyone turned to him, eyebrows raised.

Judgment. Judgment everywhere. Can't a guy eat anymore?

"I like blue." He mumbled irritably. It was indeed blue crusted. Huh. He took a tentative bit out of it. It was also delicious. Hot, gooey cheese and salty pepperoni. Mmm.

Jason got a thick burger that looked like it came right off a fast food ad, and Piper got a French onion soup that smelled like heaven. Annabeth got a perfectly toasted Panini.

For a couple minutes no one said anything, too absorbed in the completely amazing-ness of their meals.

Jason stuck out a fist for Apollo as he passed by. "Got it again, man." He said after swallowing a particularly juicy bite.

Apollo shrugged while still managing to look completely smug. "What about you, new guy?" he nudged his chin towards Percy.

Percy, who had just taken a giant bite, didn't bother to swallow before replying. "You really are a god," he half-moaned.

Apollo managed a modest smile before winking and heading off to the next table.

Percy could get used to this.

_A/N: *cowers* late update, i know. Really late update, I know. i'm sorry about that guys :c sophomore year sucks and there's so much homework ;-; *sobs heard from every WHAP student at midnight as we try to finish our chapter notes* so yeah i know. Hate me. Whoops._

_Anyway, I hope you like this chapter. I've actually had it done for like the last month, but kept forgetting to put it up. Maddie bookish-type-7 edited this for me out of the kindness of her heart so bless her. For updates on the next chapter - which will feature some Jason and Percy getting-to-know-each-otherness, yay - please follow me on Tumblr at Combustspontaneously. _

_Much love, and pretty pretty please review because it makes me hate life a little less (whap why ;-;)_

_Anna x._


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